EMS Sprint Vehicle Plan Aims to Increase Flexibility in Louisiana

When a caller dials 911 in East Baton Rouge Parish, a paramedic might show up driving a Suburban instead of an ambulance.

The parish's Emergency Medical Services organization has started sending single paramedic, rapid intervention, nontransport vehicles - or sprint vehicles - to some non-life-threatening calls to keep ambulances available for more serious emergencies, said Mike Chustz, an EMS spokesman.

In the past, if a sprint vehicle responded to a call, it was accompanied by an ambulance, Chustz said. Now the sprint vehicles go alone, unless the situation dictates otherwise, he said.

"It's a good thing because it will free up ambulances to transport serious patients, but no one will be denied care," Chustz said.

Jerry Johnston, a spokesman with the National Association of Emergency Medical Technicians, said emergency medical service organizations across the country are looking at creative ways to keep ambulances available for seriously injured people.

The task is harder than it used to be, Johnston said, because more people are using emergency medical services for non-emergency situations.

As a result, emergency rooms are overcrowded, which causes ambulances to be diverted sometimes to less-crowded hospitals or to wait for an open bed, Chustz said.

On average, it takes at least an hour for EMS to pick up patients, transport them to a hospital and be ready to hit the road again, Chustz said.

To help keep ambulances dedicated to serious emergencies, Orange County North Carolina EMS sends an initial response vehicle with a paramedic to all calls, according to the organization's Web site.

An ambulance is sent on calls only when transport to a hospital is needed, the Web site says.

The setup gives the organization more flexibility, said Kent McKenzie, deputy director for emergency medical services. It also costs less and provides residents with better care, he said.

The program started in 1996. Compared with the two years before that, cardiac arrest survival rates shot up 50 percent, McKenzie said.

And now, the time it takes to clear a large accident has decreased, he said.

"We are providing the right care, not less care," McKenzie said.

The impetus behind the change at East Baton Rouge Parish EMS was an elevated call volume and a paramedic shortage, Chustz said.

EMS receives about 13 more calls a day since Hurricane Katrina hit Louisiana almost a year ago, Chustz said. The organization typically sees a two-patient-a-day increase every year, even without a major crisis like Katrina.

The organization has 17 paramedic vacancies, Chustz said. Twenty-three students are attending the organization's one-year academy, and another academy will begin early next year. EMS' goal is to have 30 to 40 cadets in that class.

To help reach that goal, EMS, for only the second time since 1994, recently started paying students to attend its paramedic school, Chustz said.

"It used to be you would buy more ambulances and hire more paramedics," he said. "But now, you can't keep up."

Although the organization is facing an increase in daily calls and a paramedic shortage, its response times are back to pre-Katrina levels, Chustz said.

Response times, which indicate how long it takes EMS to get to a scene from the time the 911 call is received, increased to eight minutes from seven minutes for about three months after the hurricane, Chustz said.

Although there isn't a national response-time standard, the Commission on Accreditation of Ambulance Services recommends that in urban areas, EMS workers should respond to a life-threatening call in eight minutes and 59 seconds 90 percent of the time. East Baton Rouge Parish EMS is accredited by the commission.

The idea behind using sprint vehicles is to keep the organization's response times down and to help paramedics continue to provide quality care, Chustz said.

Mark Olson, also an EMS spokesman, agreed.

"The only difference is the size of the vehicle," said Olson, referring to the difference between a sprint vehicle and an ambulance. "You still are getting a paramedic."

Sprint vehicles are equipped with the same tools ambulances have, just not in the same quantities, Chustz said.

The same applies to the number of paramedics who ride with the vehicles. One senior paramedic staffs a sprint vehicle, and two to three paramedics ride in an ambulance, Chustz said.

From July 1 to July 27, paramedics responded to 3,395 calls, Chustz said. Paramedics in sprint vehicles answered 182 of them, or about 5 percent.

Generally, ambulances, and not sprint vehicles, are used to transport patients, Chustz said. But a person who does not have life-threatening injuries can be taken in a sprint vehicle, if necessary.

A dispatcher, who also has emergency medical services training, will decide when a sprint vehicle should respond to a call, Chustz said. But if a sprint vehicle is sent and an ambulance is needed, one will go.

News stories provided by third parties are not edited by "Site Publication" staff. For suggestions and comments, please click the Contact link at the bottom of this page.